- From: Ian Jacobs <ij@w3.org>
- Date: Thu, 24 Feb 2000 07:52:41 -0500
- To: Thomas Frovin Jensen <thomas@frovin.com>
- CC: www-validator@w3.org
Thomas Frovin Jensen wrote: > > I have recently discovered the usefulness of HTML - validators. However > there is one aspect that bothers me. It is possible to write a page with > correct HTML that looks awfull on the screen, or rather looks nice in MS > Internet Explorer, but is corrupted in Netscape Navigator. The problem > is, which I think we all know, that Microsoft went so far in > 'userfriendliness' that even if your HTML code is not completely correct > Explorer attempt to show what was intended. Very 'friendly' to less > professional code writers but leading to bad habits like "If its works > in Explorer it is OK" Or 'not testing your page's performance in other > browsers" > It takes time to debug code that does not perform well in some browsers, > particularly when several often nested tables are used, and over time > old tricks to tame browsers' handling of tables as a layout mechanisms > may cause troubles, particularly in the transition period towards new > language generations. > Does anybody know any existing 'layout' validators, since this seems to > be a sore point for many web-people? I do not think of software that > emulates all known browsers for visual inspection. Do you believe that > this is a real problem that needs more effort or do you expect it to be > solved by language development? > > pls respond directly. The HTML (4) specification doesn't specify a definitive graphical layout for the elements of the DTD. So there cannot be a layout validator. However, you can use the CSS test suite [1] to compare a browser with the expected layout behavior. - Ian [1] http://www.w3.org/Style/CSS/Test/ -- Ian Jacobs (jacobs@w3.org) http://www.w3.org/People/Jacobs Tel/Fax: +1 212 684-1814 or 212 532-4767 Cell: +1 917 450-8783
Received on Thursday, 24 February 2000 07:53:47 UTC